Kenneth Odie takes a fumble recovery 58 yards for a TD

Blackwater Draw, N.M. – Kenneth Odie (Sr., LB, Dallas, Texas/Skyline HS) recovered a fumble forced by David Reed (Jr., DE, Loomis, Calif./Sierra College), running it for a 58 yard winning touchdown to give Eastern New Mexico University a 14-10 home opening victory over Northeastern State University on Sept. 6^th at Greyhound Stadium. The rare Thursday night game kept the Greyhounds undefeated this season at 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The Riverhawks, who play in the LSC North, remained winless with a 0-2 record.

Northeastern was driving with a 10-7 lead early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Joe Hogan dropped back to pass and took a solid hit from Reed forcing a fumble. Odie, who was coming in from the left side, picked up the ball at Eastern’s 42 yard line and began to sprint to the end zone. A Riverhawk player caught him inside the 10 yard line, but Odie literally carried him a couple of yards and then was able to get free for the touchdown. Freshman place kicker Jordan Walker (Fr., K, North Richland, Texas/Birdville HS) converted the PAT for the come from behind 14-10 lead.

Eastern’s defense had to step-up again in the closing minutes of the game as Northeastern converted on two must have fourth down plays in a final drive. The first conversion came at fourth and two at their own 35 yard line after the Riverhawks got possession following a missed 44-yard field goal by Walker with 2:03 left in the game. Three Hogan incompletes later forced a fourth and ten situations. Hogan completed a 13-yard pass to Domingo Codner for the second conversion. With the ball at Eastern’s 49, Hogan passed to Damein Henderson who was forced out of bounds by Jeremy Hibbler (Jr., DB, Amarillo, Texas/West Texas A&M University) after a seven yard gain. With 46 ticks left on the clock, Brandon Haug (So., LB/P, Cedar Park, Texas/Cedar Park HS) forced an incompletion to bring up a fourth and three situation. Tony Johnson (Sr., LB, Levelland, Texas/Levelland HS) and Hibbler one yard short of the first down marker to seal the victory for the Greyhounds.

ENMU managed 282 yards of offense, all on the ground, but recorded only 10 first downs in 55 plays. NSU ran 71 plays for a nine minute advantage in possession time, but the Hound’s defense limited Northeastern to 239 yards of total offense, while Hogan was only held to 17 conversions on 38 attempts.

Eastern took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter on a nine yard TD run by Michael Benton. The five play drive featured an 80 run by Benton who finished the game with 176 yard on the ground with a workhorse effort 35 carries. JT Thompson (So., QB, Sweetwater, Texas/Sweetwater HS) added 56 yards on eight carries, J.J. Jennings (Sr., RB, Forth Worth, Texas/Everman Joe C. Bean HS) ran for 25 yards, while Patrick Hemphill (Sr., FB, Paducah, Texas/Paducah HS) and Jason Walker (Sr., RB, Houston, Texas/Texas Southern University) each gained 23 yards on the ground.

Eastern will remain at home for a contest against East Central University on Saturday, Sept. 15^th. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST.